Strange Bedfellows: Three different approaches to the same sports-car goal.

This three-car roundup has us feeling like Goldilocks, and only one of us is blond. We’ve got the usual complaints: One’s too cramped, one’s too slow, one’s too hot, one’s too lumpy, and so on. What we have here are three quite different sports cars with the same things in mind: maximal involvement, minimal suffering.

Our fairy-tale quandary starts with the new Lotus Evora, which draws existential questions from passersby, such as: “Uh, is that, like, a Lotus?” And from C/D staffers who ask, “What, exactly, does this car compete against?” What indeed.

The mid-engined, two-plus-two Evora configuration is an anomaly (as long as Lamborghini continues to not build a Urraco). The price of this Lotus—$74,675 base, $85,270 as tested—lines up with the Nissan GT-R’s and the bottom end of the Porsche 911 Carrera range, but those cars don’t feel like proper competitors somehow. The Evora aims for chassis feel above straight-line times, light weight over complexity, and a connection with the driver above all else. While it nevertheless makes concessions to cabin comfort, the Evora couldn’t more concisely define British sports-car-ness if it were wearing string-back gloves, a tweed cap, and women’s underwear.

Our first problem, then, became what to put up against the Lotus. We found two automotive icons—one from Germany and the other from America, each proffering their native definitions of what a sports car should be. The Porsche Cayman S and the Chevy Corvette Grand Sport are highly evolved and decorated examples of the genre. They are practical and usable yet still retain their edges. This is exactly what the Evora purports to do. In other words, game on.

The mid-engined Cayman S is arguably the closest car to the Evora in size and horsepower—aside from an Acura NSX. And while it’s sacrilege to Porschephiles, the Cayman’s mid-engine powertrain configuration beats the 911’s full diaper when it comes to handling. As usual, Porsche delivered a test car bristling with options—18 grand worth, including a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and an adjustable suspension—bumping the $62,450 base price to $80,695.

The Corvette Grand Sport is the cheapest here, at $67,565 as tested. Power-wise, it plays the role of anti-Evora, with a big, torquey V-8 in front as a foil to the Lotus’s mid-mounted, Toyota-sourced 276-hp V-6. The Grand Sport is the thinking man’s Z06: $19,515 cheaper but with the former’s body styling, dry-sump oiling system, fat Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires, and brake and suspension upgrades that make the base Corvette look soft. With 436 horsepower, this Corvette outhunks the Evora by 160 stallions and tops the Cayman by 116.

Aside from our usual battery of performance tests, we ran the three cars through the mountain passes between Bakersfield and Lake Isabella at the bottom end of California and then spent a day lapping at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, north of Los Angeles. The range of these three cars’ driving personalities is as various as the pajama sizes of Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear, but a clear winner emerged nonetheless.